New York's Stop-and-Frisk Ruling is Ripe for Appeal

Thanks to a judge's arbitrary decision, mayhem and murder may once again own the streets.

By

Michael B. Mukasey

Aug. 19, 2013 7:16 p.m. ET

The worse things get, the better things get. So goes the old agitprop teaching about the social preconditions for revolution. By that measure, last week's federal court opinion blunting New York's stop-question-frisk law enforcement tool is good news. Deeply flawed, it fairly begs for appellate review and reversal. The bad news is that it may never reach an appellate decision. But first the good news.

Judge Shira Scheindlin's opinion, based on the 14th Amendment's guarantee of equal protection of the laws, and the Fourth...